Giuliani: Waterboarding more humane than drone strikes?

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Giuliani said that at least with waterboarding, the victim is able to save themselves by providing intelligence

Washington (CNN)Rudy Giuliani said Friday he wasn't sure which was more humane: death by drone strike or being waterboarded, a tactic widely regarded as torture.

During an interview with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, the former New York City mayor and top Donald Trump surrogate said he considered waterboarding to be better than drone strikes because the victim has the chance to save themselves.

"Rather than capturing people because (President Barack) Obama didn't want to fill up Guantanamo, he used drones to kill them," he said at the forum in Washington. "I also can't figure out for the life of me what's more humane -- waterboarding or killing somebody with a drone."

A 2014 Senate report condemned the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, which included waterboarding, saying the program produced little valuable intelligence. The CIA says it no longer employs the tactic.

"At least if you're going to waterboard me, I get a choice: I can tell you the information, I can talk my way out of it," Giuliani said, chuckling.

Giuliani added that even though he's not proposing waterboarding, a person in that situation has an opportunity to "do something good for society."

"If you're going to get waterboarded -- and I'm not proposing waterboarding ... you think for yourself what's the moral difference between dropping a bomb on a man's head who's a terrorist or grabbing the man, sitting him down, and telling him, 'If you don't tell me about all of the other terrorists, I'm going to waterboard you.' At least in the second situation, he gets a chance to save his life and do something good for society," he said.

Trump has repeatedly called for bringing back waterboarding as a technique to use against terrorists.

"They're chopping off heads of Christians and many other people in the Middle East," he told CNN's Jake Tapper in February. "They're chopping heads off, they laugh at us when they hear we're not going to approve waterboarding, and then they'll have (American hostage) James Foley and others where they cut off their heads."